ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2020

It's not Faheylike at all

yeah now that I've heard it it's more like acoustic Erkin Koray/Les Mogols

it = "Shadowbanned", idk about the rest but will later

I’ve been warm and cold on his solo career but this was a fantastic direction (with great collaborators) for him to go in.

yeah now that I've heard it it's more like acoustic Erkin Koray/Les Mogols

If nothing else, "Shadowbanned" is the best deployment of Malkmus' post-Pavement lyrical style, which I mostly do not like. The rest of this album is also pretty good but it didn't make my ballot.

Pavement is sort of repulsive to me and I have no background with his solo stuff, but I listened to that Malkmus a couple times and enjoyed it.

What little I heard of the Simmy album sounded amazing

One of the few albums I really listened to this year, would have voted for it if I'd made an albums ballot. But: I'm a longtime Malkmus/Pavement guy, I always like his stuff,and can't say this record particularly stands out for me from the general "lo-fi chill study Pavement" vibe of the rest of his solo career

"Amberjack" is a good song and performance.

finally listening to this, is this his Mutations? good move imo

https://i.imgur.com/Z5spR0h.jpg
#42: Actress - Karma & Desire - 299 points - 14 votes

The producer known as ACTRESS and his r&b concrète

https://actress.bandcamp.com/album/karma-desire

“Karma & Desire never comes close to being a dance record — it's much too opaque and fragile and weird for that. Instead, listeners are left with a longform thinkpiece that's expertly conceived, well executed and brilliantly sequenced.”
https://exclaim.ca/music/article/actress_karma_and_desire_album_review

I uh really shoulda voted for this

What little I heard of the Simmy album sounded amazing

happy to hear it, brimstead. like I said, there's lots of beautiful tracks on it (and to be clear, I did vote for it, just not that high).

great album by one of the best artists of the last decade, atmospheric banging and beautiful twilight piano dub house

I need to listen to the Actress more. couldn't get into it the first time and stopped halfway, but when I finished it some time later it started falling into place. "Loveless" was the clear standout for me so far.

Actress is certainly one of my favourite artists of the past decade but somehow Karma & Desire hasn't clicked for me; in particular (I haven't listened for a while, but) I think I find the vocals jarring. I should go back to it.

didn't quite click with me either, but let me try again

All kinds of fantastic piano sounds on the Actress record

I do not have the patience for this Actress album today

first Actress I heard and it's incredible, one of my faves of the year

Karma & Desire is a masterpiece

brad otm maybe my fav artist of the decade

I think this may be my favorite Actress album

Les Mogols = Moğollar, right?

― Long Tall Arsetee & the Shaker Intros (breastcrawl), Wednesday, February 3, 2021 11:01 AM (forty-one minutes ago)

I think so. This is the album I know: https://www.discogs.com/Les-Mogol-Danses-Et-Rythmes-De-La-Turquie-DHier-%C3%80-Aujourdhui/release/1001847

https://i.imgur.com/8OqAVtA.jpg
#41: Hayley Williams - Petals for Armor - 300 points - 14 votes - 1 Nº1 vote

Petals for Armor/Last of Paramore?

“Though it contains mere hints of the scrappy rocker we’ve watched for 15 years, Petals Of Armor is the bold signature of someone who is more than ready to show off different sides of herself—yet has nothing left to prove to anyone.”
https://music.avclub.com/hayley-williams-solo-debut-petals-for-armor-is-therapy-1843268824

really wanted to love this but add it to the pile of "beloved 2020 albums that were just a little too insular for this guy"

Btw guys I felt pretty silly putting that Ichiko Aoba album on last night while having an evening drink with my partner. She said it made her feel like she was in a lobby waiting to get a massage, which of course is absolutely correct and part of the appeal. But maybe it's better suited for headphones, or Sunday morning at least.

simmer is good

i found this album to be a pretty big disappointment though many songs are good. whatever it’s her first solo album, she’ll make better ones

every time i revisited it i liked it less :(

yeah, i wanted to like it but it didn't do it for me

I admired this and feel it`s one click away from me loving it, or maybe as Brad says that will happen the next time around.

i think part of it is that it doesn’t work as an album listening experience at all? releasing it as 3 eps was kind of appropriate wrt how varied the material can be

that's good to hear brad, my reaction was the same, too many songs in too similar an emotional palette

like a very diverse record on paper but didn't feel that way while listening to it

I liked it very much at the time, but, like Brad, I sorta stopped.

https://i.imgur.com/JIzXkyR.jpg
#40: Vladislav Delay - Rakka - 302 points - 10 votes- 1 Nº1 vote

Vladislav Delay - Anima

https://vladislavdelay.bandcamp.com/album/rakka

“After selling his gear and nearly abandoning music, the Finnish producer returns from the Arctic tundra with a terrifying portrayal of nature’s violence.”
https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/vladislav-delay-rakka/

description makes it sound like werner herzog thee album

lol it does

yep, that’s more or less their 1971 Anadolu Pop album with some of the song titles translated into French or English.

(re: Moğollar)

xp to rob

i had given up on this one! amazing album

NICE

didn't vote for Rakka but it's HEAVY

i do love the radiohead-ish note that several of the hayley williams tracks strike, it sounds refreshing in the context of every previous paramore album and her voice sounds incredible in that environment. and also my "big disappointment" is really a matter of perspective; this record came out after two basically perfect paramore albums, even though it probably shouldn't be compared to the scale of paramore

Interesting - haven't checked in with mr delay for a while now, am curious!

description makes it sound like werner herzog thee album

― tiwa-nty one savage (voodoo chili), Wednesday, February 3, 2021 10:01 AM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

it is

the common denominator of the universe is not harmony but chaos, hostility, and murder--the guy that recorded vocalcity

simmer is good

oh I like this!

excited 2 hear this